I just watched the first few minute of the show and I already learned something. That blond prosecutor was defending mandatory minimums as a tool for prosecutors to threaten people with long prison sentences if they don’t rat out someone else. While I know that prosecutors think nothing of threatening to destroy someone’s live in order to get them to testify the way they want, I’ve never heard that mandatory minimums facilitate that sleazy strategy. And now I hate prosecutors even more than before (if that is even possible).

Mandatory minimums are a way for federal prosecutors to put people in prison with as little trouble to the prosecution as possible. When you can threaten someone with the MM, they take the plea. Bam: No need to prove anything.

Plus: If the guy decides to risk going to trial, he will surely get MORE than the MM because the judge will tack on extra time because the accused didn’t “accept responsibility” for his crime. Turning down the deal and going to trial is seen as proof that your haven’t accepted responsiblity.

The “presumed innocent until proven guilty” concept means nothing now. If the feds find you, you are guilty.